Keywords:
Trauma, Paediatric, CT, MR, Conventional radiography, Diagnostic procedure
Authors:
J. B. Davies, R. Berkeley, D. Pefanis, W. Tilden, R. Wheeler, S. G. Cross; London/UK
Purpose
Cervical spine injury (CSI) in children under 10 years of age is rare and there remains debate around the most common traumatic mechanisms and patterns of injury[1].
Below the age of 10 years,
the paediatric cervical spine (c-spine) differs anatomically and physiologically from that of an adult.
These differences including incomplete vertebral ossification,
lax musculature and ligaments as well as a larger head to body ratio result in much greater c-spine flexibility and are thought to protect against bony injury in blunt trauma[2].
Increased flexibility does however confer increased risk of soft tissue injury and,
due to the biomechanics of the paediatric neck,
upper c-spine injuries predominate.
When present,
paediatric CSI is potentially devastating and is associated with significant morbidity (60% of cases) and mortality (40% cases)[3].
We set out to characterize injury patterns in paediatric cervical spine injury following blunt trauma.
We also investigated the most common mechanisms of injury in patients with CSI presenting over more than 8 years to our NHS trust,
including a level 1 trauma centre and a large district hospital.